Help with little taps

If I recall the stuff in the blue/white cans was tape drive cleaner. I think it was a mixture of mostly alcohol and some other stuff I can't recall.

Yes, I took the picture and packratpaul.com is mine. I'm in the process of setting up a site to sell my swap meet-yard sale findings that I don't want to put on ebay........Paul

According to Dr. Butter :

Another thing which can help is -- assuming that the holes are being tapped through the workpiece instead of in blind holes -- the "gun" taps -- spiral points designed to chase the chips ahead of the tap, so you don't have to frequently reverse the tap to break chips. These are the ones used in Tapmatic heads and other machine driven operations. (Also, tap from above, so gravity helps to clear the chips.)

Roll taps are probably the best if they will work in the material which is being tapped.

And as mentioned elsewhere -- steer clear of the taps from hardware stores -- carbon steel taps which are much more brittle than the good HSS taps.

I tap from time to time down at the 2-56 size, and normally I do it by hand, without guide blocks -- but with the "gun" taps. Those tend to last a lot longer than I would really expect.

Enjoy, DoN.

A dealer here is selling "tool steel" taps (I guess it is drill rod (SS), but expressivly _not_ HSS) for the mini taps (M1 and the like). He claims, that they are harder to break, but will not last as long. He's selling them for model engineers, that quite often are old and have a trembling hand. :-)) Anyhow, I trust that man. He's a trained toolmaker and still doing that business + selling tools and accessories for live steam.

I second that hardware stores have never been a source for quality tools.

Nick

--What he said; Westlube is very good. Another good one is Moly Dee; I used to use this stuff when I did production tapping of stamped stainless steel parts. The ideal setup is a Tapmatic on a variable speed drillpress, with the part in a fixture to keep it from wiggling, a fairly high speed and the torque setting at just about zero. Apply Moly Dee to tap with a brush and dab some on the hole, too.

The old timers [in 1955] when I started out may have been pulling my leg, but for tapping small holes in aluminium they claimed that 1 part olive oil [some said the extra virgin high quality stuff worked best ??] to 2 to 4 parts carbon tetrachloride was the stuff to use. They also used it as a machining lube when they needed a very fine finish. I used some at that shop and as I recall it worked very well.

At that time you could buy small bottles of carbon tet as spot remover the local Ben Franklin. Can an individual buy small quantities of carbon tet or TCE now? Unka George (George McDuffee)

...and at the end of the fight is a tombstone white with the name of the late deceased, and the epitaph drear: ?A Fool lies here, who tried to hustle the East.?

Rudyard Kipling The Naulahka, ch. 5, heading (1892).

My guess would be a solid 'no' on that.

Jim

Hey George,

I doubt that you can buy it "over the counter", but there are still some of the old carbon tet extinguishers showing up at garage/yard sales. I don't think auctioneers are allowed to sell the stuff, at least here in Canada. They can't sell old cribs or old children's car-seats either, and some other stuff.

Anyway, you have to be careful if you are looking at one of the old extinguishers, as the only way to tell what's actually in it is to give it a "little" squirt, and that leaves some air in it which will eventually leave it empty.

Take care.

Brian Lawson, Bothwell, Ontario.

ps.... when talk>>

TCE can be had at True-Value and other stores that carry Sunnyside brand of cleaners. It's called Carbo-Sol ($9 per qt, $30 gal) at my local store....Paul